Telecommunications

A press insert leaflet for Virgin Media included a comparison table of Virgin Media’s bundle against bundles from Sky and eir.

“Compare for yourself (But there’s really no comparison)

Virgin Media:
€30 a month for 4 months, then €60 a month

Sky:
€57.50 a month

eir:
€62 a month

BROADBAND:
Virgin Media:
Broadband Speed – 360Mb – our fastest broadband ever, now available in almost three-quarters of a million homes across Ireland
Speed Promise – With 360Mb, the expected average speed during peak hours is 360Mb on a wired connection
Community wi-fi – Access to 300,000 hotspots nationwide keeping you connected

Sky:
Broadband Speed – Up to 100 Mb – delivered via eircom copper lines
Speed Promise – x
Community wi-fi – x

Eir:
Broadband Speed – Maximum 100Mb – speed reducing based on distance from eir cabinet. Speeds reduce when using eir Vision.
Speed Promise – x
Community wi-fi – x

HOME PHONE:
Virgin Media:
One Click parental controls – Keep your children safe online
Calls to Irish and UK Mobiles – Unlimited Anytime Calls
Calls to landlines in 22 countries – Unlimited Anytime calls
Phone App – Conveniently turns your smartphone into your home phone

Sky:
One Click parental controls – x
Calls to Irish and UK Mobiles – x
Calls to landlines in 22 countries – x
Phone App – x

Eir:
One Click parental controls – x
Calls to Irish and UK Mobiles – Unlimited Anytime Calls
Calls to landlines in 22 countries – x
Phone App – x

TV:
Virgin Media:
Recording – Record 4 programmes while watching a 5th live
Multi-device Irish Channels – Yes
Box sets and movies on multiple devices – Popular box sets and movies included

Sky:
Recording – Recording conflicts – max 2 recordings
Multi-device Irish Channels – x
Box sets and movies on multiple devices – On demand box sets require a HD/Box set subscription of €15 per month. Sky Movies subscription needed for movies

Eir:
Recording – Recording conflicts – max 2 recordings
Multi-device Irish Channels – Yes
Box sets and movies on multiple devices – On Demand movies – pay per view only

eir objected to the leaflet on the following grounds:

The layout of the comparison table, which compared the Virgin Media bundle against bundles from both eir and Sky was misleading as it compared three triple play bundles. They noted that Virgin Media had inserted titles ‘Broadband’, ‘Home Phone’ and ‘TV’, along the vertical axis of the table and encased the Virgin Media bundle with a red border with the heading “€30 for 4 months, then €60 a month”. eir said that the average consumer would be guided by the red box and understand from the table that Virgin Media were offering a triple play bundle of Broadband, Home Phone and TV at a price of €30 for the first 4 months and €60 a month thereafter. However, the price of €30 for 4 months and €60 thereafter, applied to Virgin Media’s dual play bundle of Broadband and Home Phone. Therefore, Virgin Media were comparing the features of their own triple play bundle against comparable triple play offers from eir and Sky but had headlined them with dual play pricing.

In regards to the eir bundle (eir base) used in the comparison, eir stated that this was a dual play offering of Home Phone and Broadband and at the date cited in the leaflet, 14th December 2015, the price of this bundle was €30 a month for the first 3 months and €62 per month thereafter. They said that a range of TV add-ons could be added to the bundle in order to make it a triple play offering. They said that nowhere in the leaflet did Virgin Media refer to the additional cost of adding TV to an eir Base bundle. They also said that a full reading of the insert would suggest that eir offers a triple play bundle of Broadband, Home Phone and TV at a cost of €62, however, no such bundle exists and therefore the comparison was inaccurate.

eir also said that if the Table was to be taken as a fair comparison of dual play offerings with TV add-ons, then one would expect to find somewhere in the insert a way for consumers to evaluate the full cost of eir or Sky’s bundles, however, this information was nowhere to be found. They stated that Virgin Media appeared to have confusingly attributed dual play pricing to three different triple play bundles and has selectively and unfairly deprived eir’s bundle of the benefit of the introductory pricing they afforded their own bundle. They said that this led them to the conclusion that Virgin Media had either intentionally set out to mislead and confuse consumers when compiling the Table or they were negligent as to whether consumers would be misled.

In regards to the reference to ‘Parental Controls’ on the Table, eir said that contrary to the Table they offered free parental controls with all dual, triple and quad play broadband bundles and said that they had widely advertised the availability of such controls across various media channels. They said that whilst they and Virgin Media may use different parental control systems, the net effect of allowing parents to safeguard the welfare of their children online was the same. They said that by including an ‘X’ under the Parental Control box without any qualification, Virgin Media had deprived eir’s offering of one of its key parental benefits and had reinforced the inaccurate comparison portrayed in the Table.

In the circumstances eir considered that the advertising had misled consumers.

In reply Virgin Media stated that their Table compared Virgin Media’s dual play (Broadband and Home Phone) product of 360Mb Broadband and Mobile World with Sky’s Fibre Broadband and Talk Anytime package and eir’s Base Mobile package, all dual play bundles. They said that their campaign was promoting their dual play bundles, 360Mb Broadband and Mobile World and 240Mb Broadband and Anytime World bundles. They said that this was made clear at the bottom of the page on which the table was on and the Sky and eir websites were provided to the consumer for ease of reference.

They said that it was not correct to state that the average consumer would arrive at the conclusion that they had offered a triple play bundle at €30 for the first 4 months and €60 a month thereafter. They said that consumers ordering either of their Broadband bundles had an option of adding on TV to their dual play bundle. They said that there was no obligation to take all three products, but rather an additional price for TV applied should a consumer choose to add TV to their dual play bundle. They also said that consumers wishing to add TV were advised that this would cost an extra €10 a month with a €30 price applying to the TV element after the offer period. They considered that the cost of the TV ‘add on’ had been clearly conveyed to consumers by way of a bold red asterisk. Virgin Media considered that this asterisk had ensured that the advertising was not in breach of Section 2.24 of the Code.

In regards to the eir bundle used in the comparison, they stated that they had compared their 360Mb Broadband and Mobile Work bundle to eir’s Superfast Broadband and Anytime UK calls at €62 a month as advertised on their website. They said that when the advertisement was created and published by them, eir’s package was called eir Base Mobile and the advertisement had stated that the information was correct as of 14th December 2015. They said that the package by eir appeared to now be called Superfast Broadband and Anytime UK calls. They said that the comparison made by them was a fair comparison because of the basis of selection, Virgin Media’s 360Mb Broadband and Mobile World bundle and what was a similar bundle on eir’s network, i.e. a bundle with both broadband and phone products and they had clearly stated, so as not to mislead, in the text above the terms and conditions that “Prices are based on 360Mb Mobile World v Sky Fibre Broadband and Talk Anytime V eir Base Mobile”.

In response to the complaint that it was an inaccurate and unfair comparison, they said that the Table did reflect the dual play pricing payable to Sky and eir customers’ for comparable dual play offerings. They said that the Table made it clear what each consumer would pay with each provider for their dual play offering, i.e. €60 a month with Virgin Media, €57.50 a month with Sky and €62 a month with eir. They said that they did not attribute dual play pricing to three different triple play bundles in their table.

In response to the complaint regarding Parental Controls, they said that the comparison table had referred to one click parental controls and that the purpose of the table had been to highlight that their parental controls were configurable with one click. They recognised that eir does provide parental controls but they are not a one click process and manual intervention by parents regarding websites was required. In this regard, eir did not offer the same service as Virgin Media and they had rightly pointed this out to consumers.

In conclusion, they said that they were committed to maintaining the highest standards of transparency and honesty in their advertising. They said that they had made a slight change to the press insert during the campaign and in the updated version, a separate table had been created and titled “And if you add our TV service see how we compare” and clarification had been inserted in the One Click Parental Controls part of the Table so it was clear that eir did have parental controls, however, they were not one click.

Complaint upheld in part.

The Complaints Committee considered the detail of the complaint and the advertisers’ response. The Committee considered that the layout of the comparison table, including the red border around the Virgin Media offering, was likely to lead readers to infer that the price quoted was for a triple play bundle rather than a dual play bundle and was therefore in breach of Sections 2.22, 2.24, 2.41 and 2.50 of the Code.

While the Committee noted that eir did have a parent control system in place, the comparison table had specifically stated “One Click Parental Controls” which eir did not have and therefore, the Committee did not consider that this aspect of the advertising was misleading and was not therefore in breach of the Code.

The Committee also noted that Virgin Media had subsequently amended the comparison table to clarify that the price quoted was for a dual play bundle.


As Virgin Media had amended the advertising no further action required.